Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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695. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will provide a statistical breakdown of economic activity from exports to Britain and Northern Ireland on an annual basis from 2014 to 2016 to date. [34604/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise 2025, the Government’s long-term enterprise policy is an ambitious strategy, with the objective of delivering growth over the next decade that is sustainable. The objective is to achieve strong export performance that is underpinned by innovation, productivity, cost effectiveness and competitiveness.

According to the latest CSO Trade Statistics, Merchandise exports overall grew by 21 percent to €112,209m from 2014 to 2015. Combined exports to Great Britain and Northern Ireland grew by 13 percent to €15,530m in the same year, indicating significantly higher growth in export markets beyond the UK. Overall, exports to Great Britain and Northern Ireland are falling as a proportion of total exports in the available data from 14.8 percent in 2014 to 12.6 percent in January to July 2016.

Looking at the data by sector of origin shows that from January to July 2016, 47 percent of agricultural exports and 31 percent of total Forestry and Fishing Produce went to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, indicating significant reliance on the UK market in these sectors. Alternatively, just 10 percent of total industrial produce was exported to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Industrial produce accounts for the vast majority (€61,468 billion, 93 percent) of total merchandise exports.

The latest Services Export data by country is only available to 2014. Quarterly Balance of Payments data to Q2 2016 is only released at the following geographic levels - all countries; EMU and non EMU countries. The 2014 data which is available shows that total services exports to the UK accounted for €20,176 million or 20 percent of total services exports. Sectors with relatively high dependency (higher than 30 percent) on the UK market are Transport (80 percent), Financial Services (33 percent) and Other Business services (32 percent).

Data from the Enterprise Agency Clients shows the following economic activity relating to exports to the UK. The data shows that:

- Irish companies supported by the agencies exported €6,489 million in exports to the UK in 2014, accounting for 41 percent of total exports of Irish owned firms.

- Sectors with a relatively high proportion of total exports to the UK include Agriculture (72 percent), Food Drink and Tobacco (45 percent), Textiles (57 percent), Wood and Wood Products (80 percent), paper and Printing (71 percent), Rubber and Plastics (62 percent), Non Metallic Minerals (80 percent), Metal Products (75 percent), Electrical Equipment (48 percent), Transport (51 percent), Energy (72 percent), Recycling and Waste (61 percent), Construction (over 47 percent) and Publishing and Broadcasting (43 percent).

- Foreign-owned companies supported by the agencies exported €13,127m in exports to the UK, accounting for 18 percent of total exports by foreign-owned firms.

Table 1 Total Merchandise Exports by Country (€m)

Table 2 Merchandise Exports by Broad Sector and Destination (€000’s)

Table 3 – Services Exports by Sector and Country (€m)

Table 4 Exports of Enterprise Agency Clients to UK Markets, 2014